If you order enough food ­— or, should I say, too much food — at Angelucci’s, a new and sizeable Italian restaurant in Barrhaven’s Strandherd Central mall, then you will probably depart with leftovers in a spiffy, reinforced paper bag branded with the logos of the Empire restaurant group’s other properties.

The likelihood of taking home a hefty doggie bag filled with pasta or pizza is big, I’d say. Angelucci’s, it seems to me after three visits, is a place where massive portions frequently matter most — markedly and unfortunately ahead of craft or finesse.

Furthermore, very few of the at-best ordinary 14 items that I and my dining companions have tried prompted us to finish them with much enthusiasm.

At the restaurant, which opened in mid-March, most of what we’ve had has struck us as overly simplified and casually made, especially undistinguished red sauces that lacked the discernable benefits of aromatics and slow cooking and wood-fired but bland and too-chewy pizzas.

I was glad about this much: the presence of local beverages such as Harvey and Vern’s Olde Fashioned Sodas and Kichesippi brews, as well as Illy coffee; some nicely seasoned and tender, albeit too greasy, calamari ($11.99); the ricotta and shrimp ravioli ($17.99) — one of only two dishes featuring pasta made in-house — even if its tomato concasse sauce was too pasty.

Other dishes fell significantly shorter and made us grumble about raised expectations, cut corners and slightly pricier but far superior food elsewhere.

Strozzapreti, a curly pasta, in sausage ragu ($16.99), was undersauced and what was there had none of the depth of flavour of a long-simmered ragu.

The fettuccine alla Angelucci ($19.99) was marred by overcooked scallops and a sauce that murkily combined tomatoes and pesto.

These and other pastas are available in bulk “family-style servings” ranging from $30 to $50. Given these prices, the trade-off of quality for convenience strikes me as truly disheartening.

In a beet salad ($11.99), the beets were practically devoid of sweetness and flavour.

A white pizza ($13.99) was sharply bitter, its amount of radicchio out of whack compared to its mushrooms and sausage.

We expected more of the so-called “Angelucci’s Famous Veal Chop parmigiana” ($22.99), with the words “bone-in” conjuring images of a thick, juicy piece of meat. Instead, a flattened, flavourless cutlet topped in nondescript cheese was our reward, atop a mound of no-frills spaghetti.

Most curiously, on a menu that appeals to authenticity, with most of its 40-plus items given an Italian name, “Tonna Siciliana” ($14.99), with its seared tuna slices, soy dressing, seaweed salad and pickled ginger, seemed to have wandered over from the menu of the nearest Japanese restaurant.

A chocolate soufflé ($6.99) was a possibly microwaved molten chocolate cake, not a soufflé.

A cup of tiramisu ($6.99), while enjoyable enough, had few lady fingers to speak of among its blob that registered like sweetened whipped cream.

Decor- and ambience-wise, the place seems a little jumbled. It’s part sports hangout, with an large, L-shaped bar complete with flat-screen TV in its centre. There are prints of old Italian newspapers on some walls, but also bric-a-brac and signage that makes me think “faux old-school diner.” The ceiling is dark faux tin, not unlike what’s in the Empire group’s Savoy Brasserie in Westboro.

Canned music has been loud and popular, including hits by Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Presley and Robin Thicke. Service has ranged from chipper to lackadaisical.

The Empire Grill’s other holdings — the Savoy and Metropolitain brasseries, the Empire Grill and the Grand Pizzeria — make me think that it’s capable of designing more interesting menus and, more importantly, executing food reasonably well.

In my limited experience, these are simply better restaurants. Meanwhile, Angelucci’s delivers only chain-style, big-box mediocrity. If that’s accidental, there’s much room for improvement. If that’s deliberate, I’m just not cynical enough.

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